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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26238658">Deep Sea Love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elphen/pseuds/Elphen'>Elphen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman &amp; Terry Pratchett</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Aziraphale as a jelly merfolk, Aziraphale has venom, Can't think of more tags, Compass, Crowley as a merman, Crowley as a sea snake merman, Crowley has venom in his tail, Crowley searches for Aziraphale, Gestures, He/Him Pronouns For Crowley (Good Omens), Hunting, Kissing, Love at First Sight, M/M, Separations, Sign Language, Sort Of, They/Them Pronouns for Aziraphale (Good Omens), being pulled apart, merfolk, mermaid au, non-verbal communication, thank yous, unintentional separation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:15:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,225</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26238658</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elphen/pseuds/Elphen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>While sunning himself after hunting prey, Crowley finds something that looks like a human contraption, a compas, but wrapped in what can only be the tentacle of a jelly. A very large jelly at that. Perhaps even another type of merfolk?<br/>Intrigued, he decides to return the compass to its owner or at least try, given the depths of the ocean.<br/>When he does meet the owner, he's rather overwhelmed, in more ways than one.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>79</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Deep Sea Love</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by this image - https://halcyon1796.tumblr.com/post/186234978571/merfolks-au - though I didn't know Crowley was supposed to be an oarfish in this picture. Oh, well. That's the benefit of 'inspired by', I suppose.<br/>I might have been overly cautious with the rating, but...well...<br/>No beta, as always, mistakes are all mine</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Crowley shot through the water with a confidence and unconcern that could only occur through a combination of knowing the surrounding area intimately and knowing that he was safe.</p>
<p>Not because nothing could hurt him, as there was nowhere in the depths of the seas, high or low, warm or cold, where there wasn’t a risk and a danger to you. No, he was safe because he had learned how to navigate the waters, both in terms of distance and in terms of inhabitants and he’d become proficient in defending himself – and attacking.</p>
<p>It helped, of course, that he was among the lucky ones that had venom in his arsenal and that the, mainly, bright yellow of his underside, the lower, scaly half of it, at least, projected it clearly to anyone who cared to look.</p>
<p>Some, however, weren’t as bright as others and thought that they had nothing to fear. Which, of course, was the case if they could kill him without getting within reach of his fangs or the tip of his paddle-like tail. Then they could quite easily gobble him up, if they left the areas with venom sacs well alone.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, here, venomous did not mean poisonous and there had been losses among his people before now. Severe ones, too, and not just from the time they’d been cast…well…</p>
<p>Still, though, he didn’t feel threatened as he swam through the waters. After all, he’d survived for a long time, now, and done so without the aid of anyone else.</p>
<p>He sneered slightly as he thought of his possibilities for aid. As though he would ever ask someone like Hastur for help in any circumstances. He’d rather bite his own tail off. That death would be less painful – and he wouldn’t have to look at the ugly mug of Hastur while he died.</p>
<p>Hastur felt the same way, he knew, and so did many of the other merfolk of the group that he’d been hatched into so long ago.</p>
<p>As a child, he’d never understood why, asking his mother again and again for an explanation as to why he was treated like he was when he hadn’t done anything wrong. Children so often assume that they’re the ones to blame when they can’t find any other plausible, to them, explanation for what’s gone wrong, after all.</p>
<p>She’d never given him an answer, no matter how persistent and heartfelt his pleads, and by this point, he’d learned not to be bothered by it, even come to the realisation that there probably wasn’t any particular reason for it with nary a twist of hurt in his gut. Mostly.</p>
<p>He was better than them in any case; he could do much better without them than he could with.</p>
<p>None of them would’ve lasted long this far away from any of the usual hunting grounds, that much he knew. They definitely wouldn’t have thrived, and he had to say, he was rather thriving.</p>
<p>And – there!</p>
<p>The fish he’d spotted immediately tried to swim away. It didn’t matter whether it had spotted him in turn, too, because regardless, he could easily catch it up. In fact, he’d have no trouble overtaking one twice as fast as that fat beast.</p>
<p>Unlike the snake he resembled, and which legend held they were descended from – and if legend claimed it, how could it be anything but true? – he could hunt below the surface of the sea and did not need to swim backwards in order to successfully capture his prey.</p>
<p>He also had the benefit of claws on the end of his nimble fingers, which were as good as his teeth at puncturing and tearing. If all else failed, he had fashioned himself a short spear, which was more of a knife with a bit of a longer shaft, to be honest, and usually, he kept it tied to his upper arm. That could’ve run the risk of it poking out and hitting something he wouldn’t want to hit. Except that he had the benefit of long, thin, but wiry and strong arms.</p>
<p>It worked, which was the main thing.</p>
<p>To be honest, he had the knife as much out of fascination as genuine usefulness, seeing what else he could use it for than purely hunting. It kept him occupied on the days where he didn’t need to hunt and there was nothing interesting that caught his attention and demanded he investigate.</p>
<p>Or make mischief. That was a lot of fun as well. As was sleeping. He liked sleeping, especially on sun-warmed rocks, his lower body and tail either trailing in the water or, more often, wrapped around in some fashion or other, usually one that looked awkward but was incredibly comfortable.</p>
<p>Oh, he could go for that right now. What time of year was it around these parts, though? How much warmth could he expect and how many corresponding people would he have to avoid? You couldn’t even be sure they stayed away from inaccessible areas nowadays, however little gain there seemed to be in it for them and how much risk there was doing it…which honestly said a lot, didn’t it?</p>
<p>He sped up, swam past the fish, much to its evident confusion and relief, only to turn right around and get directly above it so he could plunge his knife straight into its brain, which stunned it, and then a swift back-n-forth inside killed it.</p>
<p>Ordinarily, he would’ve used his venom to kill it or his claws to slice it open. He didn’t feel like doing either today, though. It sometimes seemed more like cruelty than anything.</p>
<p>As he considered whether to eat here or bring it up to the surface with him, idly taking in his immediate surroundings, he didn’t notice that something was watching him in turn from the lower depths, though most of what whatever it was probably saw was the yellow of his underside and the bright coppery-red of his hair swirling around him.</p>
<p>It was only for a moment before it sighed heavily and wistfully as it looked down. Then it was caught by a current that it couldn’t fight against and drifted off.</p>
<p>As it did so, something that it had meant to kept hold of, was detached from its hold or rather, it was accidentally sliced, with a jerking pain that registered but the reason for it didn’t, at least not immediately. And though the thing followed the current for a moment along with its owner, who tried to grab at it the moment it was spotted but was unsuccessful, it soon enough drifted upward, watched by blue eyes that could do nothing to follow it.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Crowley found his rock, somewhere undisturbed, by both other sea life and humans, and frankly perfect that was surprisingly close by where he’d caught the fish. A place where he could stretch out, not just his upper body but a good portion of his lower body as well and have a really good snooze under the strength of a sun unblemished by clouds.</p>
<p>Eating always made him drowsy and that had been a big fish. It should last him the week, even if he decided he wanted to be active.</p>
<p>He slept for almost an entire day, only waking up when the last rays of the sun started to fade. The rock was still warm, of course, the latent heat not having left it yet. Even so, he could feel a shiver run down the length of his body and, given what he was, said shiver went on for a while.</p>
<p>Reluctantly, he stirred and stretched, blinking yellow eyes drowsily as he tried to get the world back into focus.</p>
<p>It was quiet. Not eerily quiet, though honestly, he’d always liked things there were eery or spooky, but just…that special kind of hush that pressed against your ear drums. Which was something he was quite familiar with, given that he was a sea creature and spent so much of his time underneath the waves.</p>
<p>He hadn’t dared to venture into the trenches or other such true depths of the ocean, because though he was confident in his own abilities, he was not stupid. What lived down there was…odd, but more than that, it was dangerous and unknown.</p>
<p>Mainly unknown, anyway. He had seen some of the creatures that made their way, unintentionally so on their part, on account of being dead, up to the higher watery strata and…well, it was just as well, really, that he liked spooky things.</p>
<p>This silence was different than the one found in the sea, though. It gave the distinct impression that someone had actively shushed a group of people that were now being quiet rather than nobody being present.</p>
<p>Why was this? Was there…no, it wasn’t the bated breath of prey waiting for predators. Besides, then it would’ve been there since he’d arrived; after all, to most of the surrounding sea life, he was the threat.</p>
<p>So, why was there…?</p>
<p>Oh.</p>
<p>Was that it?</p>
<p>No, that couldn’t be it. Such a small thing couldn’t possibly be the reason for this kind of hush.</p>
<p>And yet…there wasn’t anything that had changed. Apart from the sun going down, and that was hardly a surprise occurrence.</p>
<p>He swam closer, to the thing and, consequently, to the shore. As he did so, he was conscious of the size of his body, so that he wouldn’t be caught up there. He could pull himself out, of course, but even so, there was a risk that he’d get stuck, which would just bloody well figure.</p>
<p>Mindful of that, he frowned as he got close enough to the thing to see what it was.</p>
<p>It looked like a – what were they called? He’d heard sailors shout stuff about it, or at least what he presumed to be that, given the reference to needle and which way they pointed and other such stuff. Compass? Was that it? He thought so, yeah, something like that.</p>
<p>That wasn’t the interesting bit about this small metal thing, though. At least not the most interesting thing. That honour went to what was wrapped around it.</p>
<p>A tentacle.</p>
<p>No, wait. It wasn’t a tentacle, though it did look like that at first glance. He couldn’t quite place why it wasn’t a tentacle, not yet, he just knew that it wasn’t one. What was it, then?</p>
<p>The moment he picked up the compass, he knew. Mainly because he’d accidentally touched the long, whiteish, translucent thing as he did so, before he had a chance to examine it closely with his eyes first. Luckily for him, it wasn’t venomous, either.</p>
<p>Gently detaching it from the compass, he noted that despite the length and girth of it, it was clearly a smaller part of a much larger thing. Maybe the tip of the appendage, the arm. That sounded about right, yes.</p>
<p>But why would the tip of a sea creature be wrapped something as human as a compass?</p>
<p>If it had been a spear or other type of weapon, either salvaged or created by whoever had owned this, that’d make more sense. It would then probably have been cut off during a struggle of some kind, where the creature had either defended itself or been the one to lunge. Either was equally likely.</p>
<p>This, though…</p>
<p>It suddenly clicked that it wasn’t merely the tip of an arm, it was the tip of an<em> oral</em> one. Which meant, in conjunction with the texture and translucency of it, that it was almost without a doubt one that belonged to a jelly.</p>
<p>What would a, a <em>jelly</em> be doing with something like this? It hadn’t been just an idle thing, either, judging by the way the arm had wrapped around the metal. The jelly had <em>meant </em>to keep hold of it, at least for long enough that it could be determined not to be food.</p>
<p>Somehow, though he couldn’t say why, exactly, that didn’t sit right. It didn’t feel like something some poor, stupid jelly had thought of as potential food. For crying out loud, it’d be able to feel the metal at least, wouldn’t it? Worked metal like that would not register as food, to anyone.</p>
<p>Besides, the frond-like arm was wrong, too. Though he did travel, did in fact move about the oceans more than most other creatures in the sea apart from whales, and so might get things confused, he felt almost completely certain that any of the normal types of jelly that inhabited this part of the world would have smaller arms. Smaller bodies in general, in fact.</p>
<p>To have this thickness of oral arm, even at the end, mind you, would require a length of arm that far exceeded the ones you got from species in these waters and the corresponding bell would be…</p>
<p>Big, at least. Very big. Almost as big as…</p>
<p>Of course, there could’ve been a single individual or even a bloom that had gotten lost on a current or something. Or not found enough food in their natural habit, but even so, it seemed odd, taking size and apparent interest, which wasn’t to do with food, in human-crafted items into account.</p>
<p>Weighing it in his hand, he thought about what to do with it. Should he just toss it away? After all, he had no use for it. The knife he kept because it had a practical application, even if you could argue he could use his hands or teeth for the same job. He couldn’t hurl his teeth or his hands from a distance.</p>
<p>This, however, he could see no use for, for any sea-dwelling creature but especially for him. The logical thing, then, would be to throw it out or just leave it. Save himself the burden and the bother of it.</p>
<p>He was about to hurl it when the other end of the arm tip brushed against his palm and he paused.</p>
<p>If it couldn’t be explained by it being mistaken for food and yet this, this jelly had clearly kept a tight hold of it, enough so that it had made it all the way to the surface with the arm still wrapped around it, then it had to be important to that jelly.</p>
<p>Jellies didn’t have any brains, though, not even close, so how could it…?</p>
<p>
  <em>How about you confront what you’ve been swimming around for a bit now? That’s not just from a jelly, that’s from a very specific kind of jelly.</em>
</p>
<p>But that…but they didn’t – he couldn’t <em>know </em>that.</p>
<p>How many other possibilities were there, though? Though he’d never seen one in all his years, had in fact only heard about them when he’d listened in on adults’ conversation as a child, it, realistically speaking, was the only proper candidate that fit all the criteria.</p>
<p>Even with that in mind, he had a bit of trouble believing it could actually be true. After all, if they weren’t just figments of other merfolk’s imagination, there ought to have been more sightings. Crying out loud, he ought to have seen at least one himself, what with all the time he’d spent flitting to and fro all over the seas.</p>
<p>Perhaps they lived deep, though. Or perhaps not at the very lowest depths but still very deep, in places where he had no reason to and, just as importantly, not much interest in venturing.</p>
<p>Had it really drifted up all the way from down there, though? It could have, of course, it just seemed unlikely that it hadn’t been snatched up before, if that was the case.</p>
<p>He turned it over in his hand, contemplating what to do now.</p>
<p>Someone had lost this. Someone who was evidently very attached – except that he, or she, wasn’t anymore, ahaha – to this one silly little human thing had been separated, forcefully, it seemed, from it. It mattered to them, even if he couldn’t see why it would.</p>
<p>He ought to return it.</p>
<p>As soon as the idea cropped up in his mind, he snorted at himself.</p>
<p>Really? He ought to travel all over the oceans and seas of the world, in the depths more than anything, to try and find a creature that had only ever been spoken of in hushed whispers, the special kind that you use when you’re convinced that what you’re telling isn’t true. Mostly convinced. And he would be doing that to return a trinket from humans that were a score to the dozen, i.e. not that special.</p>
<p>Clearly it was special to the one who owned it, though. Special enough to use one of its rather critical oral arms for that single purpose.</p>
<p>Which…was rather sweet, he had to admit. He’d like to meet the kind of creature who would make a choice like that.</p>
<p>Enough to travel long distances, though? Enough to put himself in danger as he dove down into deep waters where his eyes wouldn’t do him much good and threats could materialise out of inky darkness?</p>
<p>His face scrunched up in indecision and tough contemplation.</p>
<p>If nothing else, the arm tip proved that it wasn’t a myth or, well, at least it gave a pretty strong indication that it wasn’t.</p>
<p>A jelly folk, though, that was…</p>
<p>He couldn’t help trying to imagine what they might look like, just as he had before, when he was little.</p>
<p>Just like then, the image that swam into his mind was of a jelly with a striking display on its bell, more likely than not in glorious colour or at least with markings in colour. Like the one with the long, bright purple stripes or the one with the blood red crackling effect that darkened and thickened at the bottom of the bell.</p>
<p>Its oral arms might still be this pale, pearlescent colour but it’d resemble the prettiest fronds while the tentacles would be long and thin, delicate but deadly. Would they have colour, too? That one that was purely red in various shades had tentacles and oral arms in colour, after all, as did the dark purplish one with the frond-like arms.</p>
<p>All in all, what it would be was beautiful, regardless of the specific design and colour. Imagining how the upper part, the actual ‘folk’ part might look like, however, that was somehow more difficult. Would they be slender, like most of his own folk tended towards, even the ones whose lower bodies were more like moray eels than snakes? He knew that some of the fish-bottomed ones were more curvaceous but there were quite a few thinner ones among them.</p>
<p>Jelly folk, though…he had no idea. They could be thin, to sync up with and fit the state of their lower bodies, in as much as weight went rather than shape. That would allow them to more easily follow the currents that their animal counterparts relied so much upon for their migration, despite their ability to move with their bells.</p>
<p>Or they could be muscular, to counter that reliance on outside forces for their movement and allow them to better manipulate said bell for propulsion.</p>
<p>Okay, he could admit it; his curiosity was more than piqued and he was at least going to investigate.</p>
<p>He didn’t notice he’d not only left the little spot he’d dozed in while he’d been imagining but had in fact already gone below the surface of the water and dived a good way down already by that point. In his hand he still clutched the compass.</p>
<p>When he did notice, he stopped. Or rather, he managed to slow down as he thought about it. More about the fact that his body had taken the decision from him than the question again. He <em>was</em> going to return it, yes, but he didn’t like that he wasn’t the one making that decision, consciously.</p>
<p>Then again, didn’t alter anything about the current situation, did it?</p>
<p>Not really, no, and there was no point in dwelling on it right now. He could deal with it later.</p>
<p>Besides, he thought as he swam down, he had been feeling a bit…not exactly bored but perhaps restless? Something like that. This piqued his curiosity, to say the least, and would give him something to do, something to investigate.</p>
<p>It would also be doing a good deed, something which did something fluttery and warm to his insides, even if he wasn’t going to admit that out loud. To cover the feeling up, he thought to himself, deliberately flippantly, that he could always chuck it later. No harm, no foul.</p>
<p>The bloom of warmth stabbed at him at that, as though whatever had caused it was displeased with him for the thought. He ignored it as best he could.</p>
<p>Right, then. Time to scour the entire sea to find one being out of myth that had lost its prized possession. Easy job. Back in time for dinner.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He didn’t actually have to trawl the entirety of the waters. Had he been a regular sea dweller or even worse, someone like Hastur, he might’ve had to, but luckily for him, his brain took over to think it through for him, so he didn’t just swim about, or even go slavishly in lines to and fro.</p>
<p>Those would be some enormous lines, come to think of it…</p>
<p>But anyway, he instead swam a little slower and contemplated as he swam, working out the logistics of what must’ve happened.</p>
<p>Jellies didn’t have much propulsion of their own. Despite their bell being able to propel them somewhat, they had to rely on currents to truly get about and, to judge by the amount of similarities between his own folk and the animals they resembled, it wasn’t unreasonable to assume, whether muscled or skinny, that the jelly folk shared that trait with their animal correspondents.</p>
<p>So, all he had to do was work out the trajectory the compass could’ve taken, given its weight and shape, upwards towards him…towards the surface and see what currents was in the vicinity.</p>
<p>One might argue that he wouldn’t catch up with the owner that way, as they would’ve drifted further on since then and all he would find was empty water. Or at least bereft of what he sought.</p>
<p>But that would fail to take into consideration that he could move not just without the need for a current, he could, if he put his back into it, outswim most currents, at least for a time. That way, unless he got it completely wrong, he’d be able to catch up to the…the owner wherever it might have drifted to and give the compass back.</p>
<p>That was the theory, anyway.</p>
<p>It took him a bit to get down to it, but he did relatively soon find a current that looked a very likely candidate. Not only was it in roughly the right area, it was strong enough to be able to carry a creature the size that he estimated it would have to be.</p>
<p>Was that enough, though? He didn’t have too many shots of the harpoon, as it were, to get it right.</p>
<p>He tried to calculate again and got the same result.</p>
<p>Making a face as he did so, he decided that that would have to do. If he failed, then he failed and he would have at least tried as best he possibly could.</p>
<p>
  <em>Had he, though?</em>
</p>
<p>He made another face at that but chose to otherwise ignore it. Not that he could say it worked terribly well.</p>
<p>As he ventured along the current, following it without at any point going into it so that he wouldn’t be swept away himself, for what seemed a very long time, a thought came to him.</p>
<p>What if he didn’t return the compass if and when he did in fact catch up with the jelly folk person? If he made whoever it was follow him, perhaps even all the way up to the surface, so he could get a better look at them, in the sunlight. They undoubtedly would, given how much they obviously cherished the –</p>
<p>No!</p>
<p>What in the depths of the seven seas was he <em>thinking? </em>That was – that was horrible! Cruel and wrong, too!</p>
<p>Yes, okay, so he made a bit of mischief and perhaps something a bit stronger than that at times – though he’d never been accepted by his people, even as a child, he hadn’t exactly made it easier for himself later on, either. That was partly out of spite and partly out of a desire to convince himself that he didn’t need them, had in fact never needed them. Which wasn’t true but sometimes you need to convince yourself of untrue things just in order to be able to cope.</p>
<p>However, he’d never done anything he’d describe as outright cruel like that, so where the bleeding hell had it come from?</p>
<p>He didn’t even know whether the creature could handle going up that far without the pressure difference killing it.</p>
<p>Of course, his own people were pretty adept at handling different depths without suffering, but that didn’t mean other merfolk were, too, and the mere fact that he’d had the <em>thought</em> –</p>
<p>As stopping right where he was meant that he might be suckered into the current, if nothing else then by the end of his tail, he slowed down and navigated a little farther away.</p>
<p>He needed a moment to be able to cope with what his mind had sprung on him.</p>
<p>Just as he started to close his eyes to better be able to block out his thoughts, however, his eyes caught something and slammed back open.</p>
<p>As they did, the long locks of his hair decided to billow past his face – everything he had tried over the years to keep it in place hadn’t worked or hadn’t worked for long, even cutting it – and obscure his vision.</p>
<p>By the time he’d managed to, somewhat frantically, pull it out of his face again, bleeding thing, he thought he’d lost whatever he’d seen, and his heart sank.</p>
<p>He thought he’d had it. That it had finally been a glimpse of what he’d been searching for, for…he didn’t even know, but quite a while. Either it had vanished while he’d been trying to get his hair out of his face or it had never been there to begin with.</p>
<p>His fists clenched.</p>
<p>Fists that could clench, without any – the compass!</p>
<p>Desperately, he looked around him, his eyes scanning everywhere – there!</p>
<p>It <em>thankfully </em>hadn’t managed to sink that far down. He shot after it and managed to catch hold of it again without much issue.</p>
<p>When he pressed it to his chest for the briefest of moments in gratefulness, though, he mentally halted again.</p>
<p>What was he doing? Why was he doing that? Acting as though <em>he’d </em>been the one to almost lose something precious? It was a compass, for crying out loud! It didn’t even have a lot of, if any, practical applications for sea dwellers, merfolk or not, so why the blazes did he care that much?</p>
<p>Was it really purely because that way, he might just possibly get a chance to see the jelly folk? Surely not. He wasn’t that keen on seeing something spectacular, something different, was he? That pathetic, honestly. Surely…</p>
<p>Did it matter, anyway? He wouldn’t be seeing the creature ever, in any case. Either because it had never existed or because, if it did, he had just missed it.</p>
<p>Of course, he’d missed it. That was what he did, wasn’t it? Manage to get right up close to whatever it was and then still achieve missing out on it.</p>
<p>In that case, though, there was no point in hanging onto the bleeding compass, was there? It’d just be deadweight and deadweight in the ocean got you killed.</p>
<p>His hand clenched around the object in it, more than a little bit angry, mainly with himself for being such an utter idiot. Not just wasting his time but getting his hopes up.</p>
<p>There was something in the corner of his eye, but he dismissed it immediately. It was just another trick of the light, that was all…despite the fact that there wasn’t an enormous amount of light here.</p>
<p>As he got ready to throw it, his arm just beginning to wind backwards – technically, he could just let it drop again, of course, but where was the satisfaction in that? – something touched his other arm.</p>
<p>It was gentle and careful, two things that did not gel with the behaviour of pretty much anyone he’d ever met before. Strange, unknown things was to be met with caution, yes, but normally that caution meant a fair bit of distance and, if possible, either complete avoidance or attack.</p>
<p>Unless you were a seal. It was a bloody wonder those annoying things thrived like they did.</p>
<p>They were pretty fun to race with, though, he had to give them that.</p>
<p>Point was, you did not get close if you weren’t certain of something. Unless, of course, you knew with certainty that you were the larger threat and could easily take the other on – and win. Win was a rather crucial bit.</p>
<p>If you were that strong, that dominant, however, you wouldn’t approach the new thing with caution.</p>
<p>What had he heard tell the thought process were for a lot of larger predators? You see it equals you eat it. Something along those lines, anyway, and it seemed extraordinarily accurate.</p>
<p>You most definitely did not approach it with anything resembling <em>gentleness.</em></p>
<p>Not unless you intended to sneak up on it, of course, and kill it that way. But this did not feel like a tentacle or something else that could be gentle in its initial caress and then suddenly strike, possibly fatally. He’d know, having just such a thing at his disposal even if he never did use it to caress anyone. Then again, nor did he use his hands for such a thing…</p>
<p>Perhaps he should just turn around and see what it was rather than speculate.</p>
<p>So, he turned around at that, slowly, still mindful that it could be something that he wasn’t familiar with that would be waiting for an opportunity to strike, provoked if he thought to move swiftly. Drawing the compass back to his chest almost per instinct, though what instinct exactly it was, he didn’t know, he readied his free hand to strike if he needed to.</p>
<p>At the same time, he drew his tail up, into a position that could transition into a strike one if need be and he prepared his venom. Unless he had to strike, though, he did not intend to pull it into his fangs – and he might just opt for a dry bite instead.</p>
<p>Just because they, whoever they were, had approached him gently like this did not mean that he was going to have his guard down. Well, anymore than he already had and he did have the advantage of swift movements.</p>
<p>Even so, part of his mind was furious with the rest for letting his guard down in the first place because that was just how you…got…</p>
<p>Oh.</p>
<p>It wasn’t something dangerous.</p>
<p>Or rather, it was; he could see the tentacles, clear as anything, and that wasn’t purely because they were the same translucent, almost pearlescent pale white that the oral arm had been, only even paler. They floated and waved in the water surrounding the bell they were attached to and there was no doubt, at least in his mind, that they were of the kind that were venomous.</p>
<p>An eye for an eye, a sting for a sting, eh?</p>
<p>But it wasn’t a mindless creature that had touched him by accident but would now try to pull him in as best it could. Nor was it even an animal attempting to lure him in by faking that gentleness.</p>
<p>That was, it might still try that, but it wasn’t an animal. At least, no more than he was.</p>
<p>His eyes opened wide, then wider still as he tried to take in just what was now in front of him.</p>
<p>It was a jelly. No, it wasn’t. It was one of the jelly folk.</p>
<p>In the flesh. Right in front of him – and it was <em>right</em> in front of him, too, less than an arm’s length away, really.</p>
<p>He tried to ignore the thought that with him allowing himself to become distracted like that, it could’ve so easily killed him. A slow and painful one, too, like as not. It wasn’t as though they were in a rush, normally.</p>
<p>That wasn’t what took up the majority of his attention, however, even though it probably should have. That and the fact that with it so close, it was a wonder that he wasn’t already being stung by its tentacles.</p>
<p>But how could he not be utterly distracted and fascinated when he had a real-life jelly folk person in front of him?</p>
<p>He would have to admit that it didn’t look much like he had imagined. In fact, he might even go so far as to say that at least the upper body looked nothing like what he’d thought of them in terms of appearance. Not even the fact that he’d thought of two different options for them had managed to do the trick.</p>
<p>It was neither skinny or slender like him nor broad and muscly. Instead it was…fat.</p>
<p>No, that wasn’t fair. It wasn’t massive or even full of fat rolls. There was a definite softness and rotundness to the shape, but it felt more proportionate. Like somebody had just deposited an extra small stash of fat…everywhere on the upper body, including the face with its rounded cheeks and gentle lump of a chin, into something that looked soft but firm at the same time.</p>
<p>Which, honestly, made quite a lot of sense, too, if you lived down in the deeper waters like this and had little propulsion of your own. Then you wouldn’t expend your energy on movement, mostly, but neither could you decide when and where you ate. With opportunities to feed dependent on what passed by you, what got caught in your tentacles, it’d make sense to gather as much lard in your body as possible, to be able to feed on should the pickings grow slim and spaced out.</p>
<p>Besides that, it wasn’t exactly warm down here, either, by the very nature of things, and if there was anything that was good insulation from the cold, it was to be well-padded with fat.</p>
<p>Not to mention that it looked <em>good</em>.</p>
<p>Crowley blinked hard at that, though his eyes stayed wide afterwards, too.</p>
<p>Where had <em>that</em> come from all of a sudden?</p>
<p>There was no time to dwell on it, however; the blue eyes of the creature were wide, in turn, as they travelled across Crowley’s defined face, then down a little, then a little further, and their owner attempted to move forward at that, its hand held out in front of it just a little.</p>
<p>It did not dash or jerk forward or anything like that. Thankfully, as that might’ve just brought Crowley into contact with those tentacles.</p>
<p>Even so, the movement was enough to make the snake nervous of that and he jerked backwards slightly, free hand going up a little further while the one with the compass tightened.</p>
<p>That in turn made the jelly folk person rear back, confusion and apology about what had just happened written plainly across their features, in equal measures.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the movement from the top half moved into the lower half and shifted not just the bell but the attached tentacles so that they did almost touch him. He jerked back further.</p>
<p>Though speaking with sound was technically an option in the water, it was difficult and fraught with issues, such as dispersal of sound and a lot of sound just not making it further than just beyond the speaker, to name but a few, not to mention the language barrier there might be between them.</p>
<p>Among his own people, it was customary to then employ sign language instead, at least when you were close enough to see. He didn’t know whether that carried over to any other merfolk, however, or whether the language barrier would also apply there.</p>
<p>But it was, as far as he could tell, the only option they had, apart from facial expressions, which was its own kind of sign language, really – and at least, pointing should be difficult to misinterpret, shouldn’t it?</p>
<p>So, to indicate why he was backing away, he let his hand fall from its defence position – or was it offensive? – to point a clawed finger down towards the tentacles.</p>
<p>The other thankfully followed the direction of his finger immediately. Blue eyes then somehow got wider still as they did so, and it was anything but a look of wonder they held. Unlike their fully animal brethren, it seemed that the jelly folk had some modicum of control over their tentacles because they were immediately pulled inwards.</p>
<p>Didn’t that – wouldn’t that hurt the jelly themselves, though? Were they – they weren’t immune, were they?</p>
<p>How did he sign that?</p>
<p>Opting to make a grimace and keep pointing, he hoped that he’d be understood.</p>
<p>First, he got a frown of confusion, but it soon enough gave way to one of understanding. It certainly shook its head and smiled. Then they reached down and gently ran a plump hand against the length of one of the tentacles.</p>
<p>Oh. They were immune. Or had a way of withholding the venom, though since it had thought to pull them inwards and had seemed genuinely distressed that it’d been about to sting him, he’d opt for the former.</p>
<p>That settled, they reached a sort of impasse between them as they stared at one another, not willing to separate yet but each also unable to see how to progress.</p>
<p>Then the jelly folk – jelly man? It wasn’t quite as easy to tell as one might think, and there were twined-sex species of jellies, after all – let his eyes drift down again.</p>
<p>First Crowley thought that it was to where he still held the compass pressed to his chest. That would make sense, if nothing else, given that that had been what the other had seemed so keen on touching before.</p>
<p>Then he saw the gaze trailed further down. Down to where…</p>
<p>When had he cut himself there? It wasn’t a deep cut or rather, it wasn’t bleeding. Nor did it look particularly reddened or raised to indicate that it was caused by the venom of the tentacle.</p>
<p>Despite that, it looked as though the other thought they had indeed been the cause; the look of apology returned, deeper and mixed with more than a dash of dismay and horror.</p>
<p>He shook his head quickly at that, then cursed inwardly as it made his hair, which really wasn’t behaving today, float around him and in front of him, obscuring his vision completely. Rearing back had made it billow, too, but not to this extent.</p>
<p>Pulling at it angrily with his one hand – and that really was starting to be a bother, to have only the one hand free for such a thing, but he wasn’t going to let go of the compass, not now – he managed to pull it away in time to catch the jelly looking at it, seemingly fascinated by it.</p>
<p>But why? It was only hair. Yeah, so it was long, longer than was probably smart, and it was red, not the most common of colours even down here, but not exactly uncommon either, he would’ve thought. It surely couldn’t be that interesting, could it?</p>
<p>The blue eyes turned away from it soon enough, anyway, and returned to look at the cut, a frown appearing.</p>
<p>No, it, <em>they</em>, shouldn’t go thinking they’d caused that.</p>
<p>He tried to smile to indicate that it wasn’t anything to be concerned about. That it was okay. He kept his lips carefully closed, though, so that he didn’t accidentally scare or threaten the other with his fangs. Or it might be that showing teeth was threatening on its own to jelly folk. They’d smiled with their mouth closed, at any rate.</p>
<p>As they didn’t seem entirely convinced, he extended a finger down to touch the cut, both to show and to ascertain for himself that it genuinely wasn’t anything to worry about.</p>
<p>It didn’t appear to be, thankfully, and as he swept his finger up the length of it, without wincing – it did hurt a bit but nothing major and nothing he couldn’t suppress – it seemed to convince the other, too.</p>
<p>A moment or two, long ones, they stared at each other again after that. For Crowley at least it was as much about just taking the jelly in. The reality of it, of them. Their beauty.</p>
<p>Because they <em>were</em> beautiful – and the softness of the body only added to it, really, along with the warm paleness of not just the skin, which would make sense in these dimmer waters, but the hair as well, short and whitish as it swayed gently back and forth on their scalp.</p>
<p>He couldn’t drag it out forever, though, however much he wanted to. There was a reason he’d sought the jelly folk person out in the first place, after all, and though he thought he saw the other look at him, too, rather than purely his hand, he had no idea why they might look at him.</p>
<p>Perhaps, now that they had time to take him in, they purely found him odd. Fascinating, perhaps, but only in the sense that you’re trying to work out what exactly it is you’re seeing.</p>
<p>But they must’ve seen another merfolk person before, surely? He knew the seas weren’t actually teeming with them, to say the least, and the jelly folk had been a myth to his own people, but even so. They must get around at least a good bit if they followed the currents, even around here, and there were colonies of different merfolk scattered all over the oceans.</p>
<p>Just because they were clever enough to avoid the boats and other things that human set out into the water nowadays did not mean that their numbers had dwindled over the years.</p>
<p>Perhaps the jelly folk stayed in their lower currents, though, and specifically avoided interacting with anybody else, though why exactly that might be the case escaped him.</p>
<p>Did it now?</p>
<p>Was he – given that, was he breaking some sort of taboo by interacting, then? But he hadn’t been the one to get close, properly close. That had been the other. Crowley had managed to lose them.</p>
<p>Still, he couldn’t help the feeling that for one reason or another, he was on borrowed time.</p>
<p>Maybe he should just get it over with. No need to drag the pain out longer than necessary, was there?</p>
<p>It wasn’t as though he was going to see the pale, beautiful jelly ever again, once he’d handed over what he had sought it out for, was it? The likelihood of that was about as big as him finding the Kraken, or possibly Hastur starting to like him.</p>
<p>That, however, did not mean he was going to merely let the compass drop or even shove it over to the other and then swim away, never to look back and never to think about it again.</p>
<p>No, if this was to be his only encounter, he wanted to…not drag it out, he’d only just thought that he wouldn’t. What he would do was try to make it memorable. In a good way. Obviously.</p>
<p>So, he’d hand over the compass carefully and slowly, even though it wouldn’t be a surprise or anything, to make sure he was understood and they took it, and accept whatever thanks might come his way, such as a smile or even a bow, as gracefully as possible. Then he’d say goodbye, perhaps, if allowed, while touching the other’s hand or similar, and then swim away.</p>
<p>It was tempting to instead choose to wait for the other to move away but no. A modicum of dignity was preferable to him; leave a good last impression and all.</p>
<p>Yeah. Good. He could do that.</p>
<p>So, making sure he had the other’s attention, he unclenched his hand from his chest, vaguely noting that the metal had made a small indent in his skin from being pressed hard against it for some time, and held out the compass, at a distance the other could easily bridge.</p>
<p>Blue eyes lit up as he did so, despite the fact that they’d already have seen what he’d been holding. Presumably, or why else would they have reached out like they had? Without hesitation, without thought.</p>
<p>The eyes then flickered up from the compass in his palm to his face, then back down. This happened two more times, as though they really couldn’t believe he was giving it back to them.</p>
<p>Confused, and just a tad annoyed because he’d hardly to go all this trouble to then <em>not </em>return it – and he firmly ignored his previous thought about the subject, mentally squashing it down into nothing – both of which he didn’t show on the outside, he made a ‘go on, take it’ motion.</p>
<p>That he had to still hold onto it, so it didn’t drop away was another matter. Quite irrelevant…really.</p>
<p>Another moment’s hesitation then a plump hand, which was webbed, just like his own, he noted with some surprise and interest at this slower pace, reached out and took it, carefully, as though it was a tiny little hatchling that they might hurt or even kill inadvertently if they weren’t.</p>
<p>As they did so, the fingers did indeed touch Crowley’s. Even though he had plenty of calloused skin on his palms and even where it wasn’t calloused, it was slightly rough by nature, to cope with life underneath the waves, he felt that touch and his hand jolted slightly.</p>
<p>Thankfully, it didn’t result in him dropping the compass. In fact, it didn’t look as though the blond had even noticed anything. They held up the compass for examination, turning it around in their hands, then clutched it to their chest, one hand over the metal and the other covering the lower hand.</p>
<p>Well, then. He’d definitely found the correct thing, at least. That was good.</p>
<p>Blue eyes, which had closed for a moment, opened and focus straight back on him.</p>
<p>Then his heart did something complicated in his chest as the blond didn’t just smile at him but positively beamed at him in obvious gratitude, teeth and all. The sheer amount of warmth in their eyes gave it away as being entirely benign rather than a threat, though.</p>
<p>Had Crowley been of a more flowery turn of mind, he might’ve said that for a moment, sunlight penetrated down here as clearly and as brightly as through shallow waters.</p>
<p>As it was, it was all he could do to keep his heart under control as well as out of danger and his face relatively composed.</p>
<p>Well, if he wanted something that would qualify as gratitude, that certainly qualified, didn’t it? Possibly over-qualified, really, though he wasn’t about to complain.</p>
<p>In fact, he tried to fix the image very firmly in his mind so that he would never lose it. That was incredibly important to him, though he didn’t pause to reflect on the deeper reasons of why that was.</p>
<p>That was about it, though, wasn’t it? He’d done what he’d come for, he’d achieved what he hoped to achieve. What more was there he could hope to get out of it? Best to be the one to say goodbye, to move away and let all of this become nothing more than a memory. A positive memory that he never thought he’d get, too.</p>
<p>Even so, to actually make himself move backwards or even wave or nod goodbye was difficult. Instead of something graceful or even cool, what he ended up doing was a quick nod of acknowledgement.</p>
<p>Then he turned, determined not to hesitate, and started to swim away.</p>
<p>It was a good experience. He got to see something that everyone he’d ever known had said didn’t exist, or at least didn’t exist anymore, and he got to do a good deed. Which was very rare for a snake person to do, especially without ulterior motive.</p>
<p>Which he did not have. No, most definitely <em>not.</em></p>
<p>He did not get more than perhaps a tail’s length or two before something grabbed at his wrist.</p>
<p>It wasn’t a painful grip but even so, his arm jerked all on its own. The grip didn’t relent, however, but neither did it tighten. It just held on.</p>
<p>He turned and when he saw that it was indeed the blond jelly, he relaxed muscles that had tensed up automatically.</p>
<p>It was a good thing that he hadn’t lashed out with his tail, then.</p>
<p>…Probably it’d actually be <em>him </em>in trouble if the sting of one of those tentacles touched him. Some of them could kill quite large targets and that was only the animal jellies. He knew his own venom was more potent than that of his animal counterpart, so it wouldn’t be unreasonably to assume that the same was the case here.</p>
<p>Great, they could kill each other simultaneously. Wasn’t that just sweet?</p>
<p>But they hadn’t yet, and so he could see the expression on the other’s face, which was a frown of pronounced confusion. They looked at him then past him in the direction he’d been swimming then back to him again,</p>
<p>Were they really asking why he’d left, or tried to leave? Wasn’t that obvious?</p>
<p>Speaking of, where was the compass? They didn’t drop it, did they? No, they wouldn’t, not when they’d been that happy to get it back, clutching it that hard. So, where –?</p>
<p>He looked down, then, on a sudden thought and sure enough, there was the compass, wrapped once again with the length of an oral arm. He couldn’t see whether it was the same, shortened one or even if it was more secure than last time, though he seriously hoped so. Next time, the other might not be as lucky.</p>
<p>Ought to have found a vine or something to wrap around it that could be tied and then hung around a neck, didn’t he? Or perhaps not, as it could still float away if you were unlucky. If you were<em> exceedingly</em> unlucky, you might even get to have it strangle you on its way to freedom.</p>
<p>No, probably the solution they had was the best one, however not actually good it was. To be honest, he still didn’t understand why they’d want to keep it at all but that was their choice, not his. They could obviously get by as it was.</p>
<p>He looked back up at the other, uncomprehending of the problem. What he didn’t do was pull his arm back or try to swim away again. If there was something else the other wanted to tell him, then he’d be willing to hear it.</p>
<p>Not because he wanted to stay in the other’s company, of course. Well…</p>
<p>His hand was let go of almost immediately afterwards. Which wasn’t a disappointment. Not at all. For that reason, he wasn’t going to reach out himself.</p>
<p>The blond smiled again, warmly, pressed their hands – and he really ought to find out whether jelly folk used ‘he’ and ‘she’ or ‘they’ or something else entirely and which category this beauty fell into – to their chest and then brought them out again, still together.</p>
<p>What? They were – he already got that they were happy for the gesture from the sunlight beam of a smile earlier. So why were they…? Unless it meant something else, of course. If it did, he had clue as to what that was.</p>
<p>That he didn’t reciprocate or react, really, which was partly because he didn’t understand and partly because he was trying to remain cool, made the face of the blond fall a little.</p>
<p>Then they hit upon a new idea, it seemed.</p>
<p>They pointed to themselves with one finger, once, twice, then held the finger up.</p>
<p>Oh, bloody – they didn’t mean to make him guess the meaning of each mime it was going to do, did they? How was that possible when they didn’t speak the same language?</p>
<p>Or at least, he assumed they didn’t.</p>
<p>At the same time, he couldn’t help but like the thought that with the emphasis on themselves, they might be trying to tell him their name. Which he’d very much like them to.</p>
<p>It seemed as though they were.</p>
<p>Right, okay, he could do that.</p>
<p>Maybe.</p>
<p>Quite how he managed it, he in hindsight never fully understood, but somehow and after some trial and error, he got something that he thought was not only a word but actually the blond jelly’s name; Aziraphale.</p>
<p>That was…a rather pretty name, too, even if it was a little long and he wasn’t at all sure he’d gotten that right. To try to verify, he repeated the name as he thought he’d pieced it together from their signals and mimes.</p>
<p>They nodded and smiled, evidently pleased.</p>
<p>So was Crowley, really.</p>
<p>Aziraphale.</p>
<p>Then he remembered that he’d have to reciprocate. He wanted to; wanted them to know what his name was so that when they parted, they would at least remember a bit more than long red hair and a yellow underside. But that meant he’d have to find a way to mime his name and he wasn’t at all certain he could do that.</p>
<p>He’d try, though.</p>
<p>For a name with only two syllables, it took a frustratingly long time for him to get it across, especially when you considered that Aziraphale’s was twice the syllables.</p>
<p>Eventually, he managed it and he couldn’t help but feel proud and pleased when Aziraphale mimed it back to him, correctly. Especially not seeing as <em>they </em>looked so pleased when he nodded it was right.</p>
<p>‘Thank you, Crowley’, Aziraphale then mimed, smiling all the while.</p>
<p>‘You’re welcome, Aziraphale,’ Crowley replied, smiling in turn.</p>
<p>Then after a few long moments had passed between them again where they’d just stared at each other, Crowley, feeling that he ought to give a better goodbye than he had on the first attempt, decided to bow.</p>
<p>He did it properly, as he’d once been taught rather than what he’d developed it into later and had gotten decked for, his arm sweeping out for just a bit of flourish. If it was with doing, it was worth doing with style, no? In this circumstance, at least.</p>
<p>Once he straightened up – if he’d been looking at the other as he did so, he wasn’t entirely sure he’d be able to carry it off – he intended to turn around and leave.</p>
<p>This was definitely a better note to part on than the initial way, he had to admit, and would, probably, not leave quite as much of a bittersweet feeling in the pit of his stomach.</p>
<p>He didn’t spot the look of regret and hesitant contemplation on the other’s face nor the glint of an idea and a hope in the blue eyes.</p>
<p>Part of him, and it was a not insignificant ant still growing part, wanted not to part at all but he firmly, and repeatedly, ignored that part. It wasn’t going to help any nor would it change anything. He’d leave and that was that.</p>
<p>After, all, it wasn’t as though –</p>
<p>Before he could do more than turn a little this time, however, the jelly shot forward, their whole body this time, though mainly their upper body, including their arms.</p>
<p>Their hands in particular reached out to him. Not to grab his hands, as he might’ve expected, or even his shoulders.</p>
<p>Instead, they reached for his face and cupped his jaw, one hand on either side, fingers splaying out to cover both a good portion of his face and his throat. He felt the webbing between them brush against his skin as softly as the fingers themselves. Almost as though what they were touching was something precious.</p>
<p>He didn’t get much chance to dwell on it or even register it, not properly. The touch might be gentle, but it wasn’t weak. It was clear that they intended to keep his face where it was.</p>
<p>The reason for it was made clear soon enough. Even so, it startled and bewildered Crowley in the moment.</p>
<p>Aziraphale closed what distance remained between them, closing his eyes in the process, and brought their lips together.</p>
<p>The kiss he gave was soft, and it was sweet. It was also close-mouthed, purely a press of lips against each other but even so, it sent a jolt through Crowley as though he’d accidentally disturbed something with electricity as a defence mechanism.</p>
<p>That was partly to blame for why he remained still, almost frozen in the water. Apart from his eyes, which were threatening to close after their initial widening in shock, despite his demands that they stay open, and his lips, which pressed enthusiastically back.</p>
<p>It seemed to go on forever but of course it didn’t. Even so, it lasted for quite a long time and by the time they parted, Aziraphale being the one to pull back, Crowley had trouble remembering much besides who he was, and even that was a toss-up for the first few seconds.</p>
<p>Yellow eyes opened slowly and reluctantly, to be met with blue eyes that looked much like he felt at that moment.</p>
<p>If that was purely what they thought counted as a <em>thank-you</em>, then…<em>well</em>…</p>
<p>A smile spread across his features, one which was soft and happy and unlike any other smile he’d ever had, or so he felt.</p>
<p>It was helped by, if not an answering smile then one of similar merits.</p>
<p>He did know his cheeks didn’t become rounded like that when he smiled. Which was probably just as well because he’d have been assaulted if he’d looked this adorable and beautiful.</p>
<p>This wasn’t what he’d ever have expected to happen when he started this journey, but it wasn’t as though he was about to complain, was it?</p>
<p>As he leaned in slowly for another kiss – he ignored the thought that he was supposed to be saying goodbye, this was not meant as anything more than a thank-you, however odd it was to choose something like a kiss, on the lips, for that – he felt the hands grip tighter on his face.</p>
<p>Was he meant to stop? Was that why – had he misinterpreted it? Gone too far?</p>
<p>He pulled his head back, hoping to convey that he hadn’t meant to go too far for the blond, hadn’t meant to overstep.</p>
<p>The grip tightened further, much to his confusion. He wasn’t going to be outright punished for a not unreasonable misinterpretation, was he?</p>
<p>Then his mind finally snapped out of its worried state and he saw what he’d been missing.</p>
<p>While they’d interacted, as it possibly wasn’t only while they’d kissed, they’d moved in the water, it seemed, and had, inadvertently, come close to the nearby current. The one that Crowley had followed to get here.</p>
<p>How had Aziraphale gotten out of it, come to think of it?</p>
<p>That didn’t matter right now. What mattered was that they’d got too close and was being swept up in it. Their hands weren’t digging in because of anything Crowley did, they were just trying to hold on.</p>
<p>Crowley, in turn, grabbed hold of their arms and tried to pull them back. For all his strength, though, without something to wrap around to act as a ballast for him, there wasn’t much he could do against a proper ocean current.</p>
<p>He could, of course, allow himself to be swept up alongside Aziraphale but that could result in unforeseen but dangerous results.</p>
<p>That didn’t matter. He wouldn’t let go. Not yet. Not like this.</p>
<p>He could feel the plump hands slip and then gain a grip on his neck, where they dug in hard, drawing welts and pain despite their bluntness. His own claws pressed into soft flesh, too, and his back curved outwards hard to try to stem against it.</p>
<p>Despite that…despite everything they tried, he could feel the jelly folk’s fingers slipping again. His own claws clamped harder around the arms they held in response.</p>
<p>In the end, though, it wasn’t enough; when some of the current hit right underneath the entirety of the bell, Aziraphale was helpless against it and was swept along.</p>
<p>Crowley followed immediately but though he could swim faster than a current, he couldn’t keep up forever and he’d already exhausted quite a bit of energy, despite the fish earlier, on this expedition.</p>
<p>Eventually, despite all his efforts, and those of Aziraphale, who fought against the current but was too confused and uncoordinated, not to mention distressed, to think clearly or to actually make it out of it, the distance between them widened and widened until there was not even a glimpse of whiteish blond, just dark water all around.</p>
<p>Crowley was alone.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was started months ago, but I decided to finish and post it as a birthday present to myself. I did debate whether to divide it into two chapters but a one-shot was better.</p>
<p>In case it was not clear, I based Crowley on a Yellow Bellied Sea Snake because of colour pattern (though, yes, red/orange, I know) and habitat whereas Aziraphale is - and I spent a stupid, if lovely, amount of time researching jellies - based on the Indonesian Sea Nettle, which fitted best, imho. Also, they're beautiful, so...again, it fitted. :)</p>
<p>Feedback is as always dearly loved and treasured but if you could keep criticism constructive</p></blockquote></div></div>
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